´Red-haired Madonna´ İlonka at Karpiç-Şehir Lokantası, Ankara, 1941.
The Republic stepped beyond the threshold of the “old life” in which the ruler and the ruled were utterly estranged and constituted two opposite poles, and man and women lived in different worlds. “The new life” connoted the transition from a confined way of living to a new one where the borders were expanded. Men came together with women and together, they went out on the street; the gap between the ruler and the ruled was rapidly overcome and the villager became the master of the nation. To shed light to darkness, teachers, engineers, doctors embraced their destiny and spread across the corners of the nation. The sound of collaborative production rose from fields and factories; the thrill of it all enveloped the country. The “new life” meant freedom and future; it epitomized the Republic.
Baba Karpiç offering Kavaklıdere wine to his guests at Karpiç-Şehir Lokantası, Ankara, 1940s.
The exhibition Republic: New Individual New Life can be seen free of admissions until 17th May.